View full sizeSouth Jersey TimesRowan University and breast cancer survivor Leslie Spencer trains with her student-turned-trainer, Domenick Salvatore. Spencer credits her training to helping her get through a difficult time.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 226,870 females and 2,190 males will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the end of 2012.

As researchers across the country continue to search for a cure, thousands of men and women continue to live with the challenging reality of breast cancer.

In recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness month which begins tomorrow, we share a few stories from across the South Jersey region of those whose lives have been directly touched by breast cancer.

Leading after cancer

There was no history of cancer in Leslie Spencer’s family. At Rowan University for 17 years, Spencer coordinates the undergraduate program in health promotion and fitness as well as the master’s degree program in wellness and lifestyle management.

At age 44, however, the professor got a troubling report from her annual mammogram.

She went in for a biopsy. A very aggressive form of cancer was growing in her left breast.

Given her family history, breast cancer was “never a worry of mine or a concern,” Spencer recalled in a recent interview. “It was a pretty remote possibility.”

A second biopsy revealed that Spencer, now 47, had a different type of cancer in her right breast. She opted to go through with a double mastectomy.

But the mastectomy was just the first step.

Immediately after the surgery, she spent 16 weeks in chemotherapy, plus six weeks of radiation. Soon, a hysterectomy was recommended and, finally, reconstructive surgery.

In all, Spencer endured four major surgical procedures in 14 months.

During this period of pain and uncertainty, the Morrisville, Pa., resident relied heavily on her spiritual life.

“It was my faith in God,” she said, that helped her pull through. “I had a tremendous sense of the Lord protecting and taking care of me .... A lifetime of training in faith was put to the test.”

View full sizeSouth Jersey TimesRowan professor and breast cancer survivor Leslie Spencer's dream came true when she had the chance to compete in a bodybuilding competition.

Throughout the treatment, though, Spencer kept a goal in mind.

Right before she was diagnosed, she said, “I had a dream — to enter a figure competition” in the world of body building.

And, “That became a real focal point for me .... It could really be a symbol of my victory over cancer. The heels, the bikini, the spray tan — it really gave me something positive to look forward to.”

Among the many students Spencer has taught over the years is Domenick Salvatore.

Soon, it became Salvatore’s turn to teach.

Salvatore had recently graduated from Rowan, so Spencer asked if she could hire him to help her get ready for the body-building competition.

“I did train all throughout my treatment. I was really careful about what my body could and couldn’t do,” Spencer emphasized.

Even during her low points, like after her chemotherapy treatments which, she said were completely draining, Spencer would get up and walk around the house just to keep moving.

When she was feeling healthier in between treatments, she would walk or run a few miles and lift weights.

Her fourth and final surgery came in June 2010, when she received silicone breast implants.

In August 2010, she competed in her first bodybuilding competition in Burlington.

“I knew I was not going to win and get trophies,” Spencer admitted. Nevertheless, “I knew I was a winner just being on the stage.”

Professor Leslie Spencer has published a book about her experiences, “You Can Be Beautiful Beyond Breast Cancer,” which came out Sept. 1.

She wrote the book, she said, to tell her story and offer guidance to other women going through breast cancer.

Spencer’s book is available on Amazon.com.

“It was hard. It still is hard,” she said last week. “I’m just feeling like something good can come out of difficult things.”

Kimberly Ball, 40, lost her mother, Renia Patterson, to cancer in 2006. Her mother who died at age 57, was diagnosed when she was 48.

View full sizeKimberly Ball, Carneys Point, talks about her mother, Renia Patterson, she lost to breast cancer in 2006. Ball had a very high chance of having breast cancer, so she had a double mastectomy and other surgeries to avoid breast cancer. (Staff Photo by Britney Lillya/Today's Sunbeam)

“It was so hard to see the way she suffered,” the still-grieving Carneys Point resident said last week. “She was 60 pounds when she died.”

A year after her mother was diagnosed, Ball, then 26, found a lump in her own breast.

From age 26 to 35, Ball found several more breast lumps and had ovarian cysts removed. The cysts returned at twice the size. But no cancer was found.

Then on Thanksgiving Day 2007, Ball found another lump on her breast — the one she called “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Doctors suggested genetic counseling for Ball. For about five months, she talked with a counselor about her fears and concerns. She felt supported, she said.

In late May 2008, Ball had two blood tests done — the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, for Breast Cancer Genes One and Two.

Women who have an abnormal BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 gene often have a family history of cancer and, therefore, are considered to be at higher risk.

Doctors told Ball the results of her test indicated that she had a 90 percent chance of breast or ovarian cancer before she reached the age of 50.

Right away, she had a double mastectomy. She also had her ovaries removed. Both procedures, she was told, would reduce her risk of cancer to just 7 percent.

“For me, it had bothered me for so long that I wanted it [done] quickly,” she said of the decision to remove the organs. “I wanted to be here for my family.”

Ball has been married for nearly 22 years. The couple has two children — Tabby, 21, and Caleb, 17.

“My husband would bathe me and take care of me. He was amazing,” Ball said. “They took such good care of me. I knew in the end that I’d be there for them.”

Loving and losing through cancer

Before moving to Florida in 1992, Kriss and Brock Bowles lived in Vineland.

View full sizePhoto providedRowan University and breast cancer survivor Leslie Spencer trains with her student-turned-trainer, Domenick Salvatore. Spencer credits her training to helping her get through a difficult time.

They married two years later, moved to Miami, and then on to the Tampa area.

In 2001, Brock was diagnosed with breast cancer.

At the time, said his wife Kriss, nobody was talking about male breast cancer.

“I didn’t think much about it,” Kriss said last week. “All I knew was we had to get through it.”

Kriss, who is now 65, related the experience of dealing with a husband who’s being treated for a disease that is stereotypically a female issue.

“It was a problem. He was sick.”

She said her husband was open to talking about his cancer with friends and family, but when it came to treatment, he kept many concerns to himself.

“Of course, being male, he would not ask questions. I would ask questions of the doctor,” she said. “A couple times, he was, like, ‘Knock it off.’ ”

Brock died in 2004 at age 59. Since his death, Kriss has become an advocate for male breast cancer awareness.

She moderates the Blue Ribbon, a male breast cancer group on Facebook and sends male breast cancer bumper stickers to those who want them.

“Nobody is coming out about male breast cancer. It’s a shame. We’re too humiliated to come out and speak about it,” she said.